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THE  ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  THE 
MASSOTH-  FESTIVAL 


JULIAN  MORGENSTERN 


Reprinted  for  private  circulation  from 
THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY,  Vol.  XXI,  No.  2,  April  1917 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  THE  MASSOTH- 
FESTIVAL 


JULIAN  MORGENSTERN 
Hebrew  Union  College,  Cincinnati 


It  is  a  generally  accepted  fact  that  the  biblical  festival  of  Pesah, 
or  Passover,  is  the  result  of  the  amalgamation  of  two  ancient  festi- 
vals, the  original  Pesah  and  the  Hag  Hammassoth.1 

Pesah  was  in  origin  essentially  a  shepherd  festival,  observed  by 
the  Israelite  tribes  in  common  with  practically  all  Semitic  peoples 
in  the  nomad  stage  of  civilization.  Upon  it,  apparently,  the  first- 
lings were  offered  as  a  taboo-sacrifice  to  the  deity,  conceived  of 
primarily  as  the  creator  and  bestower  of  life.  However,  after 
these  nomad  tribes  had  taken  up  permanent  residence  in  Canaan, 
and  had  passed  over  into  the  agricultural  stage  of  civilization, 
with  the  necessary  modification  of  original  shepherd  customs  and 
religious  rites,  this  sacrifice  of  firstlings  upon  this  annual  festival 
developed  into  the  sacrifice  of  a  yearling  lamb  or  kid  for  each 
household,  now  the  regular  social  unit.  This  was  known  as  the 
Paschal  lamb  or  Paschal  sacrifice,  and  became  the  characteristic 
feature  of  the  celebration  of  the  original  nomad  festival  in  the  new 
agricultural  environment.  From  its  beginning  Pesah  seems  to 
have  been  celebrated  at  night,  and  to  have  been  of  only  one  night's 
duration. 

The  Masses-festival,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an  agricultural 
festival  pure  and  simple,  celebrated  originally  by  the  Canaanites 
and  borrowed  from  them  by  Israel.  It  was  celebrated  just  before 
the  beginning  of  the  harvest  season,  which  in  Palestine  comes 
shortly  after  the  vernal  equinox,3  and,  along  with  most  of  the 

1  Cf.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena6,  pp.  82-88. 

3  According  to  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  (Eusebius,  Church  History,  VII,  20),  it  was 
not  proper  to  celebrate  the  Passover  until  after  the  vernal  equinox.  Muljaddas! 
(Description  of  Syria,  Including  Palestine,  translated  by  Le  Strange  [Palestine  Pilgrims' 
Text  Society],  p.  76)  too  relates  that  Easter  was  celebrated  by  both  the  Christians  and 
the  Moslems  of  Syria  at  the  vernal  equinox. 

275 


2092581 


276  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

agricultural  festivals  of  the  western  Semites,  was  of  seven  days' 
duration.  The  characteristic  feature  of  its  celebration,  at  least  in 
the  undoubtedly  modified  biblical  form,  was  the  eating  of  Massoth, 
or  unleavened  bread. 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  this  peculiar  and  interesting  rite  is 
one  which  has  always  been  recognized  as  important,  but  which  has 
generally  been  dismissed  with  a  superficial  explanation,  that,  how- 
ever, lay  so  ready  at  hand  as  to  mislead  even  the  most  capable  and 
careful  scholars.1  Because  of  the  evident  connection  of  the 
Massoth-festiva.1  with  the  beginning  of  the  harvest,  and  the  bring- 
ing of  the  ^Omer,  or  first  sheaf,  of  barley  as  a  taboo-sacrifice,  and  the 
permission  following  thereupon  to  eat  of  the  new  crop,  it  has  been 
generally  assumed  that  these  Massoth  were  made  of  the  new  crop, 
were  "the  natural  offering,  from  the  newly-gathered  barley,  to  the 
gods  that  had  allowed  the  crops  to  ripen,  and  after  that  were  the 
staple  article  of  food  of  the  harvesters,"2  and  were  partaken  of 
during  the  festival  as  a  kind  of  sacrament. 

It  is,  to  say  the  least,  surprising  that  this  theory  should  have 
found  such  general  acceptance.  For,  since  the  C0mer  was  brought, 
at  the  very  earliest,  only  on  the  second  day  of  the  festival,  and  the 
new  crop  was  absolutely  forbidden  until  this  sacrifice  had  been 
brought,  and  yet  the  eating  of  Massoth  was  enjoined  from  the  very 
first  day  of  the  festival,  it  follows  that  either  the  Massoth  of  the 
first  day  must  have  been  made  of  the  old  crop,  and  have  differed 
in  this  respect  from  those  eaten  after  the  C0mer  had  been  brought, 
a  distinction  of  which  no  biblical  record  is  found,3  or  else  the 

1  As  for  example,  Wellhausen,  op.  cit.,  pp.  83  f. 

*  Hirsch,  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  IX,  554. 

3  This  is  touched  upon  in  the  older  Midrashim,  yet  too  briefly  and  confusedly  for 
the  evidence  to  be  at  all  conclusive.  To  harmonize  Deut.  16:8,  "Six  days  shall  thou 
eat  unleavened  bread,"  with  Exod.  13:6,  "Seven  days  shalt  thou  eat  unleavened 
bread,"  Rabbi  Simon  (Sifre  to  Deut.,  par.  134;  ed.  Friedmann,  1016)  says,  "For  six 
days  one  should  eat  (Massoth  made)  of  the  new  grain,  and  for  one  day  (Ma$sotk  made) 
of  the  old  grain."  (However  the  Sulzbach  edition,  6ga,  col.  2,  reads,  "For  six  days  one 
should  eat  of  the  new  grain,  but  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  old."  This  last  procedure, 
though  strange  indeed  and  probably  incorrect,  agrees  in  part  with  MehiUa,  Bo,  VIII 
[ed.  Weiss,  116]).  Cf.,  also  Jer .  Pesahim,  V,  33*1.  These  references  I  owe  to  the  kind- 
ness of  my  colleague,  Professor  J.  Z.  Lauterbach. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          277 

Massoth  of  the  entire  festival  must  have  been  made,  wholly  or  in 
part,  of  the  old  crop. 

Furthermore,  if  the  Massoth  were  made  of  the  new  crop  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  harvest,  they  could  have  been  made  of 
barley  alone.  And  if  so,  then  this  fact  would  certainly  have  been 
properly  recorded.  Not  only  does  no  such  provision  occur,  but 
the  Bible  seems  by  its  very  silence  and  the  general  nature  of  its 
references  to  imply  that  Massoth  might  be  made  from  almost  any 
kind  of  gram.  And  the  Mishnah1  distinctly  provides  that  Massoth 
may  be  made  of  wheat,  barley,  spelt,  oats,  or  rye,  while  according 
to  the  Gemara2  rice  and  a  species  of  millet  are  alone  prohibited. 
Clearly  the  Massoth  could  not  have  been  made  of  the  new  crop, 
but  must  have  been  made  of  the  old  crop,  at  least  in  part.  Conse- 
quently, the  customary  explanation  of  their  origin,  cited  above,  is 
altogether  groundless.3 

Before  we  offer  a  solution  of  this  problem  we  must  first  deter- 
mine the  exact  time,  in  relation  to  the  harvest,  when  this  festival 
was  originally  celebrated.  Whereas  P  (Exod.  12:3,  6,  15-20; 
Lev.  23:5-8;  Num.  28:16-25)  dates  the  festival  from  the  i5th 
through  the  2ist  of  the  first  month,  the  older  codes  (Exod.  23:15; 
34:18;  Deut.  16:1-8)  merely  fix  the  festival  for  the  month4  of 
Abib,  the  month  of  ripening  grain.  After  the  close  of  its  Passover 
legislation,  Deuteronomy  proceeds  to  legislate  for  the  next  harvest 
festival,  of  first-fruits  or  weeks  (Deut.  16:9-12).  It  provides  that 
this  festival,  of  only  a  single  day's  duration,  shall  come  exactly 
seven  weeks  after  the  day  when  the  sickle  is  first  put  to  the  stand- 
ing grain.  There  is  no  direct  statement  that  the  Masses-festival 
was  connected  with  this  last  act.  Yet  from  the  context  as  much 
might  be  inferred. 

However,  the  provision  in  H  (Lev.  23 : 9-1 6)  that  the  C0mer  shall 
be  offered  upon  the  day  after  the  Sabbath  of  the  Massoth-testival, 

1  Pesahim,  II,  5. 

1 B.  Pesahim,  350.    Cf.  Eisenstein  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  VIII,  393. 

3  Cf.  also,  Marti,  Geschichte  der  israelitischen  Religion5,  pp.  124  f. 

4  Or,  possibly,  the  new-moon  day  (a  communication  from  Dr.  K.  Kohler).    I 
believe  that  this  suggestion  has  also  been  made  by  Meinhold. 


278  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

and  that  from  this  day  t  hey  shall  count  fifty  days  until  the  Feast 
of  Weeks  makes  it  clear  that  this  same  connection  between  the 
two  festivals  is  implied  in  Deut.  chap.  16,  and  that  the  Massoth- 
festival,  according  to  D  as  well  as  H,  was  celebrated  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  harvest  season. 

But  we  must  still  determine  the  exact  meaning  of  the  much- 
discussed  expression  used  by  H,  tQIDH  rHJtQia .  Rabbinic  tradition 
has  interpreted  this  as  the  second  day  of  the  Massoth-  or  Passover- 
festival,  the  first  day  being  regarded  as  the  Sabbath  because  of 
the  importance  of  the  Paschal  rites  observed  thereon,  or,  more 
correctly,  upon  the  evening  before.1 

However,  while  this  did  become  the  accepted  rabbinical  inter- 
pretation of  this  expression,  it  is  significant  that  it  was  by  no 

'It  is,  however,  significant  that  Num.  33:3  states  explicitly  that  by  miTDH 
nOBH  not  the  i6th  but  the  i$th  of  the  month  was  meant.  The  same  is  undoubt- 
edly the  implication  of  Josh.  5:11  f.  (Granting  that  the  words  HDSn  HIITE'D  and 
miTffiQ ,  missing  in  LXX,  are  a  late  insertion  [cf.  Holzinger,  Joshua,  pp.  12  f.],  then 
this  is  the  implication  of  the  glossator).  Not  unlikely  the  words  flCSH  miTOU  in 
Num.  33 : 3  are  a  gloss,  and  the  original  text  merely  cited  the  fact  that  the  Exodus 
took  place  on  the  isth  of  the  first  month.  At  any  rate  careful  consideration  shows 
that  FlOSn  mrraiQ  of  Num.  33:3  cannot  be  identical  with  I"QT8n  nintt'Q  of 
Lev.  23:  ii ;  for  this  would  imply  that  the  i4th  of  the  first  month,  the  day  preceding 
the  eve  upon  which  the  festival  really  began,  consequently  the  day  upon  which  all 
preparations  for  the  festal  celebration  were  to  be  made,  was  the  Sabbath,  on  the  face 
an  utter  impossibility.  At  the  same  time,  it  seems  that  the  late  author  or  glossator 
of  Josh.  5:11  f.  did  mistakenly  regard  nOSPJ  mTTQlS  of  Num.  33:3  as  identical 
with  PQtDn  mmstt  of  Lev.  23: 11,  and  therefore  told  that  on  the  day  after  the  Pass- 
over  (i.e.,  the  day  after  the  Sabbath),  in  other  words,  on  the  day  of  bringing  the 
cOmer,  the  sacrifice  of  which  removed  the  taboo  upon  the  new  crop,  the  people  actually 
began  to  eat  of  the  new  crop  (LXX,V*^a,  for  the  biblical  ''ibp .  Cf.  also,  Samaritan 
Chronicle,  XVII  [ed.  Crane,  50]),  and  therefore  the  manna  ceased  upon  this  self  same 
day. 

Furthermore,  the  traditional  application  of  the  term  t"QTJ5  to  the  first  day  of  the 
Jfa§§0<A-festival,  the  i5th  of  the  month,  must  have  been  unknown  to,  and  therefore 
later  than,  the  author  of  Num.  33:3.  For  a  writer  of  the  priestly  school  would  hardly 
have  ventured  to  imply  that  Israel  began  its  journey  upon  the  Sabbath. 

My  attention  has  very  kindly  been  called  by  Professor  J.  M.  P.  Smith  to  Benzinger, 
Archaologie ',  pp.  389,  399,  and  to  Jastrow,  'On  fniBn  miTEE  ("The  Day  after  the 
Sabbath")'  AJSL,  XXX,  94-110,  which  I  had  overlooked  in  the  preparation  of 
this  paper.  Jastrow,  in  particular,  advances  the  hypothesis  that  by  flUE  the  full- 
moon  day,  the  i5th  of  the  month,  is  meant.  Accordingly  rQtDPI  mniS'Q  would 
refer  to  the  i6th  of  the  month.  However,  I  find  myself  altogether  unconvinced 
by  the  arguments  advanced,  and  therefore  see  no  reason  to  alter,  or  even  modify, 
my  own  arguments  and  conclusions. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          279 

means  the  universal  interpretation.  The  Book  of  Jubilees  (1:1; 
6:17-22;  15:1;  44:3  f.),  by  fixing  the  Feast  of  Weeks  upon  the 
1 5th  of  Sivan,  clearly  began  to  reckon  the  fifty  days  from  the  220! 
of  Nisan,1  the  day  after  the  close  of  the  Massoth-iestival.  The 
Book  of  Jubilees  probably  reflects  Hasidean  practice.2  It  is  note- 
worthy that  the  Samaritans,3  Boethusians,  and  Karaites4  likewise 
observed  the  same  system  of  reckoning,  and  accordingly  must  also 
have  interpreted  rClBH  t"Hfi3352  as  the  day  after  the  close  of  the  entire 
Massoth-testival.  Furthermore,  the  practice  of  these  sects  shows 
that  they  interpreted  the  word  tGim  literally  as  the  Saturday  of  the 
week  of  the  Massoth-testival.  With  them  the  festival  always  began 
on  Sunday,  and  consequently  always  concluded  on  Saturday.5 

1  It  is  well  known  that  the  calendar  system  of  the  Book  of  Jubilees  prescribes  a 
year  of  364  days,  divided  into  13  months  of  28  days  each.  Accordingly  the  soth  day 
from  the  22d  of  Nisan  would  fall  upon  the  1 5th  of  Sivan. 

a  Cf .  Kohler,  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  VII,  301  ff . 

JPetermann,  Reisen  im  Orient,  I,  289. 

<Cf.  Revel,  in  Jewish  Quarterly  Review  (New  Series),  III  (1913),  350  f. 

5  This,  too,  is  the  interpretation  of  the  expression  adopted  by  a  number  of  modern 
scholars.  Cf.  Holzinger,  Exodus,  p  42;  Bertholet,  Leviticus,  p.  80;  Baentsch, 
Leviticus,  pp.  414  f.;  also  Hitzig,  "Ostern  u.  Pfmgsten,"  Schreiben  an  S.  Ideler;  and 
A.  Epstein,  Eldad  Haddani,  pp.  157  ff. 

Not  improbably  from  the  very  oldest  times  the  M a  ssoth-f estiva.}  began  on  Sunday 
and  closed  on  Saturday.  This  would  make  the  cutting  of  the  ^Omer  and  the  beginning 
of  the  harvest  fall  on  Sunday  also.  This  is  very  probable  for  economic  reasons. 
Exod.  34:21  (even  granting  with  Bertholet  [Deuteronomy,  p.  80]  that  all  ref- 
erences here  to  agricultural  practices  are  late  insertions)  expressly  enjoins  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  and  abstention  from  work,  even  during  the 
important  period  of  the  harvest.  Then  the  crops  must  be  gathered  quickly  lest 
they  perish  for  one  cause  or  another.  The  loss  of  a  single  day  is  vital.  Nevertheless 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  particularly  enjoined  for  the  harvest  period.  In 
view  of  this  the  religious  calendar  would  not  improbably  be  so  constructed  or 
modified  as  to  enable  the  people  to  begin  harvesting  on  a  Sunday  in  order  to  lose 
as  few  days  as  possible  during  the  critical  harvest  season,  because  of  the  need  of  Sab- 
bath observance.  Further  corroboration  of  this  hypothesis  may  be  seen  in  the 
celebration  of  Palm  Sunday  and  Easter  Sunday  in  the  ancient  Christian  church. 
However,  the  discussion  of  the  peculiar  and  interesting  celebration  of  these  two 
days,  particularly  in  the  Eastern  church,  would  lead  too  far  afield  for  this  paper,  and 
must  be  deferred  for  presentation  elsewhere. 

Further  corroboration  of  this  conclusion  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  Sabbath 
preceding  the  Passover  is  known  in  the  synagogue  as  the  "  Great  Sabbath,"  and  special 
services  are  held  upon  it  (Shulhan  fAruh,  ^Orah  Hayyim,  430  and  Jewish  Encyclopedia, 
XI,  2156).  The  traditional  grounds  for  the  peculiar  importance  or  sanctity  of  this 


280  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

The  Falashas  too  begin  to  count  the  cOmer  from  the  22d  of 
Nisan,1  i.e.,  from  the  day  after  the  close  of  the  Massoth-iestival, 
regardless  of  whether  this  be  on  Sunday  or  not,  and  accordingly 
celebrate  the  Feast  of  Weeks  on  the  i2th  of  Sivan.2  The  Peshitta 
too  renders  raiCH  IY"lffl2E  by  jjj-*]  \±oo->  ?£LSO  .  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  the  rabbinic  interpretation  of  rGTCiTJ  STHrtQS  as  the  second  day 
of  the  festival,  with  the  accompanying  result  that  the  Massoth 
would  be  eaten  during  the  continuation  of  the  festival  through  the 
first  six  days  of  the  harvest  season,  was  by  no  means  universal  or 
necessarily  correct. 

Careful  consideration  of  the  biblical  evidence  confirms  the  con- 
clusion that  rQTSn  rnrnaE  can  mean  only  the  day  after  the  close 
of  the  Passover  festival.  In  the  first  place  it  must  be  noted  that 
vss.  4-8,  in  which  the  provisions  for  the  celebration  of  the  Massoth- 
festival  occur,  are  from  P  and  not  from  H.  The  prescriptions  of 
H  for  the  celebration  of  the  Massoth-festival,  and  the  relation 
thereto  of  the  ceremony  of  bringing  the  C0mer,  can  no  longer  be 
definitely  determined.  Yet  so  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the 
Bible,  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  for  believing  that  raiCH 
cannot  designate  the  concluding  day  of  the  festival  quite  as  well  as 
the  first  day.  In  fact,  since  the  festival  lasted  for  seven  days,  it 
would  most  likely  be  thought  to  have  but  one  Sabbath,  and  that 
the  last  day  of  the  seven,  since  the  feeling  must  have  been  strong 
that  the  Sabbath  came  but  once,  and  as  the  last  day  of,  every  seven 
days.  This  hypothesis  is  strengthened  by  the  unquestionable  fact 

particular  Sabbath  are  confused,  and  probably  prove  no  more  than  that  from  the 
very  oldest  times  the  day  was  regarded  as  peculiarly  holy.  And  long  after  the  origin 
of  its  peculiar  sanctity  was  forgotten,  these  various  traditions  sprang  up  to  account 
therefor.  Not  impossibly  the  peculiar  sanctity  of  this  day  is  a  reminiscence  of  the 
earliest  form  of  the  celebration,  when  the  festival  actually  began  on  Sunday,  and 
the  preceding  day  was,  in  a  certain  sense,  likewise  important  and  sacred  as  the 
day  of  preparation  for  the  festival.  A  reminiscence  of  this  seems  to  lie  in  the 
tradition  (cf.  Tosefot  to  B.  Shabbas,  876),  that  at  the  time  of  Exodus  the  toth  day 
of  the  ist  month  fell  upon  Saturday;  nevertheless,  obeying  God's  command  (Exod. 
12:3),  the  Israelites  selected  the  lambs  for  the  first  Paschal  sacrifice  on  that  Sabbath 
day. 

1  Cf.  A.  Epstein,  "Essay  on  the  Falashas,"  in  his  Eldad  Haddani,  pp.  153  ff. 

2  The  Falashas,  of  course,  employ  the  regular  Jewish  calendar. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          281 

that  H  uses  the  term  FQ1D  frequently  in  the  sense  of  a  group  of 
seven,  whether  days  or  years.1 

Exod.  13:6,  which  gives  the  J  prescriptions  for  the  celebration 
of  the  Massoth-iestival,2  without  any  direct  reference  to  the  Pass- 
over with  its  sacrifice  of  the  Paschal  lamb,  expressly  states  that 
Mossoth  shall  be  eaten  during  the  seven  days  of  the  festival,  and 
only  upon  the  last  day  does  the  hag,  the  sacred  dance,  the  culmi- 
nating religious  rite  of  the  festival,  occur.  A  more  direct  and 
explicit  statement,  that  hi  the  original  M assot A-festival  the  seventh 
rather  than  the  first  day  was  the  most  important  day,  could  not  be 
desired. 

In  view  of  this  unmistakable  evidence  it  is  certain  that  both  D 
and  H,  as  their  contexts  imply,  regarded,  with  J,  the  seventh  and 
last  day  of  the  festival  as  the  one  of  chief  importance,  the  one  upon 
which  the  ceremonial  climax  was  reached.  This  therefore  must 
be  the  day  designated  by  H  as  the  Sabbath,  upon  the  day  after 
which  the  C0mer  was  to  be  sacrificed  and  the  actual  harvest  and 
the  enjoyment  of  the  new  crop  were  to  begin. 

It  is  certain  that  the  ritual  importance  of  the  last  day  of  the 
week,  emphasized  particularly  in  P,  was  the  result  of  the  combi- 
nation of  the  two  festivals,  Pesah  and  Massoth.  The  peculiar 
nature  of  the  Paschal  sacrifice  with  its  many  attendant  details,  all 
culminating  in  certain  very  definite  and  picturesque  ceremonies, 
performed  in  a  single  night,  would  tend  to  magnify  the  importance 

'Lev.  23:16;  25:8;  cf.  also,  Isa.  66:23  and  Duhm  on  this  passage.  Note  also 
the  common  Palestinian-Aramaic  and  Syriac  designation  for  the  week,  fOtD , 
and  also  the  New  Testament  ffdpfiarov  (Matt.  28:1;  Mark  16:2,  7;  Luke  18:12; 
I  Cor.  16:2).  This  in  itself  would  make  it  probable  that  the  term  fQlDn  as  used 
by  H  means  the  last  day  of  the  festival  rather  than  the  first  day. 

In  this  connection  attention  may  be  called  to  the  interesting  fact  that  whereas, 
so  far  as  can  be  determined,  in  all  other  sources  rQTD  is  invariably  masculine,  in  H  it 
is  regularly  feminine.  (Exod.  31:13-16;  Lev.  23:3,  15,  16;  25:6,8.  In  Lev.  16:31, 
^nn  should  probably  be  emended  to  Sin ;  cf.  Exod.  35:2;  Lev.  23:32;  25:4.  Like- 
wise in  Jer.  17: 24,  the  Massorites  changed  the  Ketib  rQ  to  "Q.  Probably  they  were 
correct  in  this,  since  otherwise  in  Jer.  rQ1B  seems  to  be  invariably  masculine.)  Not 
impossibly  this  feminization  of  ffllD  may  be  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Babylonian 
sabattu  (feminine),  with  which  the  H  writers,  probably  living  in  Babylon,  were,  not 
improbably,  acquainted. 

*  Though  recast  somewhat  by  later  Deuteronomic  writers. 


282  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

of  this  rite  over  the  rather  long-drawn-out  rites  of  the  Massoth- 
festival,  particularly  colorless  when  divested  of  their  original,  non- 
Yahwistic  elements.  Accordingly  the  natural  tendency  would  be 
to  accentuate  the  importance  of  the  ceremonial  on  the  first  night 
of  the  combined  festival,  and  to  minimize,  unconsciously  perhaps, 
the  importance  of  the  last  day.  This  tendency  would  be  heightened 
as  the  Passover  came  to  be  increasingly  regarded  as  commemorating 
the  Exodus  from  Egypt,  fixed  by  tradition  upon  the  first  day  of 
the  festival.  Nevertheless  Lev.  23:7-8  still  represents  both  first 
and  last  days  as  days  of  solemn  assembly  and  abstention  from 
work;  both  are  equally  holy.1 

From  all  this  evidence  we  may  posit  with  certainty  that  previ- 
ous to  its  amalgamation  with  the  Passover,  and  the  consequent 
transference  of  the  ritual  culmination  of  the  celebration  from  the 
seventh  to  the  first  day,  the  Masses-festival  was  celebrated  for 
seven  days,  and  reached  its  ritual  climax  upon  the  last  day.  On  this 
day  the  hag,  or  ritual  dance,  was  celebrated,  and  on  the  next  day 
the  people  went  out  to  their  fields,  solemnly  cut  the  first  sheaf  of 
barley  and  brought  it  with  proper  ceremonial  to  their  local  shrines 
as  the  taboo-sacrifice  for  the  new  crop.  Thereafter  they  were  free 

1  It  is  impossible  to  determine  just  when  this  amalgamation  of  these  two  originally 
independent  festivals  took  place.  In  all  likelihood  it  evolved  gradually,  owing  chiefly 
to  the  fact  that  the  two  festivals  were  celebrated  at  about  the  same  time  of  the  year, 
and  that  the  Passover,  originally  a  shepherd  festival,  naturally  lost  its  primary  sig- 
nificance when  celebrated  by  an  agricultural  people.  This  amalgamation  would 
naturally  be  furthered  by  the  attempt  to  attach  a  historical  significance  to  the  com- 
bined festival  by  associatibg  it  with  the  Exodus.  Undoubtedly  this  historicization  of 
this  combined  festival  began  some  time  before  D,  for  already  the  JE  account  of  the 
festival  associates  it  with  the  Exodus  (Exod.  13:3-16.  But  notice  that  this  account 
shows  decided  evidence  of  Deuteronomistic  reworking;  cf.  Holzinger  and  Baentsch  to 
the  passage.)  But  it  may  be  safely  inferred  that  the  amalgamation  was  still  by  no 
means  complete  at  the  time  of  the  composition  of  D,  for  the  Passover  legislation  in 
Deut.  16: 1-8  is  by  no  means  a  unit,  and  exhibits  unmistakable  evidence  of  later  rework- 
ing (cf.  Steuernagel  and  Bertholet  on  the  passage).  Likewise  H  (or  P,  Lev.  23:5  f.) 
distinguishes  carefully  between  the  two  festivals.  This  distinction  is  still  maintained 
in  the  Samaritan  Passover  ritual  (Petermann,  Reisen  im  Orient,  I,  288).  It  is  quite 
certain  that  the  final  amalgamation  of  the  two  festivals,  and  the  complete  association 
of  this  new  resultant  festival  with  the  Exodus,  with  its  emphasis  laid  upon  the  sacrifice 
of  the  Paschal  lamb  and  the  attendant  rites  upon  the  first  night  of  the  festival,  is  the 
work  of  the  post-Deuteronomic  period,  and  finds  its  first  complete  and  harmonious 
expression  in  P. 


ORIGIN  OF  MA$SOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          283 

to  partake  at  will  of  the  new  barley,  without  fear  of  violating  the 
property  rights  of  the  deity  and  incurring  his  consequent  displeas- 
ure and  wrath. 

This  sacred  dance  upon  the  last  day  of  the  A/Vm0^-festival 
may  well  remind  us  of  the  festival  dance  described  in  Exod.  32:51!., 
of  the  dances  of  the  maidens  of  Shiloh  in  the  vineyards  as  a  part 
of  the  celebration  of  their  annual  hag  (Judg.  21:19  if.)  and  of  the 
dances  of  the  maidens  of  Jerusalem  in  the  vineyards  on  the  1 5th  of 
Ab  and  the  loth  of  Tishri.1  It  is  quite  significant  that,  according 
to  Josephus,2  these  dances  were  celebrated  thrice  annually.  The 
implication  is  that  they  constituted  integral  parts  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  three  great,  annual  harvest  festivals,  consequently 
designated  by  the  term  hag.  This  entire  matter  I  have  treated  in 
greater  detail  elsewhere.3  There  I  have  shown  that  these  dances 
were  celebrated  in  the  earliest  Canaanite  ritual  in  honor  of  the 
great  Canaanite  triad  or  trinity,  the  father-god  Bacal,  the  mother- 
goddess  Ashera,  or  Astarte,  and  the  divine  child,  Tarnmuz,  or 
Adonis.  The  more  important  festivals  were  celebrated  for  seven 
days.  They  began  with  a  period  of  fasting,  mourning,  and  bodily 
affliction,  as  if  for  someone  dead,  naturally  the  dead  god  of  vege- 
tation, Tammuz.  But  day  by  day  they  became  more  and  more 
joyous  in  the  thought  that  the  dead  deity  had  been,  or  soon  would 
be,  restored  to  life  in  the  crop  of  the  new  year.  And  this  increas- 
ing joyousness  culminated  in  the  sacred  dances  upon  the  seventh 
day,  participated  in  chiefly  by  the  maidens,  and  attended  by  scenes 
of  mad  merry-making  and  wild,  unbridled  license,  and  sacred 
prostitution.  Into  a  detailed  consideration  of  these  ceremonies 
we  cannot  enter  here.4 

1  Mishnah,  Ta^mth,  IV,  8.  '  Ant.  V.  ii.  12. 

*JAOS,  XXXVI  (1916),  321-33,  and  an  article  soon  to  appear  in  JQR  (New 
Series). 

«It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Maundrell  (ed.  Wright,  in  Bonn's  Antiquarian 
Library  [1848],  pp.  462-74),  in  describing  the  celebration  of  Easter  at  Jerusalem,  as 
witnessed  by  him  April  3-10,  1697,  says  that  the  entire  celebration  lasted  seven  days. 
It  began  with  Easter  Sunday,  or  rather  with  the  ceremony  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Fire  in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulcher  on  the  late  afternoon  of  the  preceding  day,  and 
continued  until  the  following  Saturday.  Of  this  last  day  Maundrell  writes:  "We 


284  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

Now,  if  the  Massoth-iestiva.1  was  originally  an  Astarte-Tammuz 
festival,  as  has  been  stated,  and  of  this  the  proof  is  ample,  it  would 
be  surprising  did  it  too  not  begin,  as  did  all  other  such  festivals, 
with  a  period  of  fasting  and  mourning  for  the  dead  and  soon-to-be- 
revived  god.  Of  actual  mourning  rites  only  meager  traces  remain. 
But  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  ceremony  of  fasting  as  pre- 
paratory, or  introductory,  to  the  celebration  of  the  Massoth-iesiival. 
It  is  still  customary  among  orthodox  Jews  for  first-born  sons,  and 
some  say  even  first-born  daughters,  to  fast  in  preparation  for  the 
festival;1  and  in  more  ancient  times  it  seems  to  have  been  the 
regular  practice  that  all  people  fast  on  the  day  before  the  begin- 
ning of  the  festival,  hi  order  that  they  might  better  enjoy  the 

went  to  take  our  leaves  of  the  holy  sepulcher,  this  being  the  last  time  it  was  to  be 
opened  this  festival. 

"Upon  this  finishing  day,  and  the  night  following,  the  Turks  allow  free  admittance 
for  all  people,  without  demanding  any  fee  for  entrance  as  at  other  times,  calling  it  a 
day  of  charity.  By  this  promiscuous  licence  they  let  in,  not  only  the  poor,  but,  as  I 
was  told,  the  lewd  and  vicious  also,  who  come  thither  to  get  convenient  opportunity 
for  prostitution,  profaning  the  holy  places  in  such  manner  (as  it  is  said)  that  they  were 
not  worse  denied  even  when  the  heathens  here  celebrated  their  aphrodisia."  We  can- 
not help  correlating  the  promiscuous  license  upon  this  concluding  day  with  the  merry- 
making and  license  of  the  last  day  of  the  ancient  Canaanite  agricultural  festivals,  and 
particularly  the  Massotk-testival,  out  of  which,  as  is  generally  admitted,  Easter 
developed. 

In  this  connection  too  it  should  be  noted  that  rabbinical  tradition  has  dated  the 
crossing  of  the  Red  Sea  upon  the  7th  and  last  day  of  the  Passover,  and  in  this  way 
accounted  for  the,  to  the  rabbis,  otherwise  seemingly  inexplicable  sanctity  of  this  day. 
This  tradition  implies  that  the  song  and  dances  of  Miriam  and  her  maidens  (Exod. 
chap.  15)  were  celebrated  on  this  concluding  day  of  the  festival.  It  is  probably  a 
reminiscence  of  the  old  Canaanite  and  early  Israelite  practice  of  the  dances  and  songs 
of  the  maidens  upon  the  concluding  day  of  the  great  harvest  festivals.  Possibly  too, 
the  language  of  the  Midrash  may  even  be  interpreted  as  somewhat  reminiscent  of  the 
fact  that  this  last  day  of  the  festival  was  the  Sabbath  (Shemot  Robba,  Par.  XIX,  near 
end).  Commenting  upon  Exod.  13:7,  the  Midrash  says,  "No  leaven  shall  be  seen 
with  thee  for  seven  days;  corresponding  to  the  original  seven  days  intervening  between 
the  redemption  and  the  dividing  of  the  Red  Sea  are  the  seven  days  of  creation;  and 
just  as  the  Sabbath  is  fixed  once  in  every  seven  days,  so  are  these  seven  days  (of  the 
Passover)  fixed  for  each  year." 

1  ShtUhan  cAruh,  ?Orah  Hayyim,  470.  The  importance  of  this  practice  of  the 
first-born  fasting  may  be  inferred  from  the  custom  cited  by  Moses  Isserles  (ibid., 
notes),  that  while  the  first-born  child  is  still  a  minor,  and  therefore  not  obligated  to 
fast,  the  father  shall  fast  for  him;  but  if  the  father  himself  be  a  first-born,  and 
therefore  bound  to  fast  for  himself,  the  mother  shall  fast  for  the  child. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          285 

opening  feast  and  thereby  perform  the  duty  of  eating  the  Massoth 
with  greater  gusto  and  zeal.1  The  Falashas  too  observe  a  general 
fast  on  the  part  of  all  the  people  from  the  evening  of  the  i3th  to 
the  evening  of  the  i4th  of  Nisan.2 

The  traditional  reason  for  this  fasting  is  that  it  commemorates 
the  deliverance  of  the  Israelite  first-born  from  the  fate  that  over- 
took the  Egyptian  first-born.  But  the  Falasha  practice  and  also 
the  former  practice  of  pious  Jews,  that  not  only  first-born,  but  all 
people,  fast  on  the  day  preceding  the  Passover,  implies  that  at  one 
time  this  practice  of  a  general  fast  may  well  have  been  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception.  Just  this  is  what  we  would  expect  as  part 
of  the  celebration  of  an  ancient  Astarte-Tammuz  festival. 

Furthermore,  the  custom,  still  observed  by  orthodox  Jews,  of 
carefully  searching  out  and  destroying  all  leaven,  or  so  providing 
for  its  disposal  that  there  might  be  no  possibility  of  its  enjoyment 
during  the  festival,  is  of  prime  importance.3  According  to  R. 
Jehudah  this  leaven  could  be  destroyed  only  by  burning.4  Its 
destruction  was  imperative.  The  Bible  insists  that  there  shall  be 
absolutely  no  leaven,  neither  hames  nor  S'or  within  the  entire 
country  during  the  seven  days  of  the  festival  (Exod.  12:15;  13:7; 
Deut.  16:4). 

We  can  interpret  this  custom,  and  that  of  fasting  as  prepara- 
tory to  the  main  celebration  of  the  festival,  only  in  the  light  of 
similar  customs,  observed  under  practically  parallel  conditions,  by 
primitive  agricultural  peoples.  The  entire  Massoth-festiva].,  we 
have  shown,  originally  preceded  the  commencement  of  the  harvest. 
The  new  crop  could  not  be  eaten  until  after  its  regular  taboo- 
sacrifice  of  the  C0mer,  or  first  sheaf,  had  been  properly  offered  on 
the  day  after  the  close  of  the  Massoth-iestival.  The  eating  of  the 
new  crop  is  among  many  primitive  agricultural  peoples  a  ceremony 
of  deep  religious  significance,  for  which  careful  preparation  must 

1  Cf.  the  discussion  of  the  reason  for  R.  Shesheth  fasting  on  this  day  (B.  Pesahim, 
io8a;  also,  Jer .  Pesahim,  X,  376,  and  the  statement  of  Masseket  Soferim,  XXI,  3,  "The 
pious  fast  for  the  sake  of  the  Massoth").  These  references  also,  I  owe  to  the  kindness 
of  Professor  Lauterbach. 

3  Epstein,  op.  cit.,  pp.  153. 

3  Shulhan  fAruh,  >Orah  Hayyim,  431-39.  *  Mishnah,  Pesahim,  II,  i. 


286  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

be  made,  since  the  entire  life  of  the  people  is  bound  up  with  the 
new  crop.  Before  the  first  mouthful  of  the  new  crop  may  be 
taken,  the  old  crop  must  be  entirely  destroyed,  put  out  of  the  way 
completely.  Under  no  condition  may  it  be  mixed  with  the  new 
crop,  even  in  the  bodies  of  the  eaters.  They  must  fast  for  a 
definite  period,  and  very  often  use  strong  purgatives  and  emetics 
in  order  that  absolutely  not  one  grain  of  the  old  crop  may  remain 
in  their  bodies  at  the  time  when  the  new  crop  is  first  eaten.  Other- 
wise the  two  crops  would  be  commingled,  and  the  new  crop,  the 
food  supply  for  the  coming  year,  would  be  contaminated  and 
rendered  unfit  for  use. 

The  annual  green-corn  festival,  observed  by  the  Creek  Indians, 
and  in  almost  identical  form  by  the  neighboring  and  kindred 
Yuchi,  Seminole,  and  Natchez  Indians,  is  typical.  Frazer  describes 
this  festival  as  follows:1 

Amongst  the  Creek  Indians  of  North  America,  the  busk,  or  festival  of 
first-fruits,  was  the  chief  ceremony  of  the  year.  It  was  held  in  July  or  August, 
when  the  corn  was  ripe,  and  marked  the  end  of  the  old  year  and  the  beginning 
of  the  new  one.  Before  it  took  place,  none  of  the  Indians  would  eat  or  even 
handle  any  part  of  the  new  harvest.  Some  tunes  each  town  had  its  own  busk; 
sometimes  several  towns  united  to  hold  one  hi  common.  Before  celebrating 
the  busk,  the  people  provided  themselves  with  new  clothes  and  new  household 
utensils  and  furniture;  they  collected  their  old  clothes  and  rubbish,  together 
with  all  the  remaining  grain  and  other  old  provisions,  cast  them  together  in  one 
common  heap,  and  consumed  them  with  fire.  As  a  preparation  for  the 
ceremony,  all  the  fires  in  the  village  were  extinguished,  and  the  ashes  swept 
clean  away.  In  particular,  the  hearth  or  altar  of  the  temple  was  dug  up  and 
the  ashes  carried  out.  Then  the  chief  priest  put  some  roots  of  the  button- 
snake  plant,  with  some  green  tobacco  leaves  and  a  little  of  the  new  fruits,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  fireplace,  which  he  afterwards  commanded  to  be  covered  up 
with  white  clay,  and  wetted  over  with  clean  water.  A  thick  arbour  of  green 
branches  of  young  trees  was  then  made  over  the  altar.  Meanwhile  the  women 
at  home  were  cleaning  out  their  houses,  renewing  the  old  hearths,  and  scouring 
all  the  cooking  vessels  that  they  might  be  ready  to  receive  the  new  fire  and  the 
new  fruits.  The  public  or  sacred  square  was  carefully  swept  of  even  the  smallest 
crumbs  of  previous  feasts,  "for  fear  of  polluting  the  first-fruit  offerings."  Also 
every  vessel  that  had  contained,  or  had  been  used  about,  any  food  during  the 
expiring  year  was  removed  from  the  temple  before  sunset.  Then  all  the  men 
who  were  not  known  to  have  violated  the  law  of  the  first-fruit  offering  and  that 

1  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough*,  "Spirits  of  the  Corn  and  the  Wild,"  II,  72-75. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          287 

of  marriage  during  the  year  were  summoned  by  a  crier  to  enter  the  holy  square 
and  observe  a  solemn  fast.  But  the  women  (except  six  old  ones),  the  children, 
and  all  who  had  not  attained  the  rank  of  warriors  were  forbidden  to  enter  the 
square.  Sentinels  were  also  posted  at  the  corners  of  the  square  to  keep  out 
all  persons  deemed  impure,  and  all  animals.  A  strict  fast  was  then  observed 
for  two  nights  and  a  day,  the  devotees  drinking  a  bitter  decoction  of  button- 
snake  root  "in  order  to  vomit  and  purge  their  sinful  bodies."  That  the  people 
outside  the  square  might  also  be  purified,  one  of  the  old  men  laid  down  a 
quantity  of  green  tobacco  at  a  corner  of  the  square;  this  was  carried  off  by 
an  old  woman  and  distributed  to  the  people  without,  who  chewed  and  swallowed 
it  "in  order  to  afflict  their  souls."  During  this  general  fast,  the  women,  the 
children,  and  men  of  weak  constitution  were  allowed  to  eat  after  midday,  but 
not  before  that  time.  On  the  morning  when  the  fast  ended,  the  women 
brought  a  quantity  of  the  old  year's  food  to  the  outside  of  the  sacred  square. 
These  provisions  were  then  fetched  in  and  set  before  the  famished  multitude, 
but  all  traces  of  them  had  to  be  removed  before  noon.  When  the  sun  was 
declining  from  the  meridian,  all  the  people  were  commanded  by  the  voice  of  a 
crier  to  stay  within  doors,  to  do  no  bad  act,  and  to  be  sure  to  extinguish  and 
throw  away  every  spark  of  the  old  fire.  Universal  silence  now  reigned.  Then 
the  high  priest  made  the  new  fire  by  the  friction  of  two  pieces  of  wood,  and 
placed  it  on  the  altar  under  the  green  arbour.  This  new  fire  was  believed  to 
atone  for  all  past  crimes  except  murder.  Next  a  basket  of  new  fruits  was 
brought;  the  high  priest  took  out  a  little  of  each  sort  of  fruit,  rubbed  it  with 
bear's  oil,  and  offered  it,  together  with  some  flesh,  "to  the  bountiful  holy 
spirit  of  fire,  as  a  first-fruit  offering,  and  an  annual  oblation  for  sin."  He 
also  consecrated  the  sacred  emetics  (the  button-snake  root  and  the  cassina,  or 
black-drink)  by  pouring  a  little  of  them  into  the  fire.  The  persons  who  had 
remained  outside  now  approached,  without  entering,  the  sacred  square;  and 
the  chief  priest  thereupon  made  a  speech,  exhorting  the  people  to  observe 
their  old  rites  and  customs,  announcing  that  the  new  divine  fire  had  purged 
away  the  sins  of  the  past  year,  and  earnestly  warning  the  women  that,  if  any 
of  them  had  not  extinguished  the  old  fire,  or  had  contracted  any  impurity, 
they  must  forthwith  depart,  "lest  the  divine  fire  should  spoil  both  them  and 
the  people."  Some  of  the  new  fire  was  then  set  down  outside  the  holy  square; 
the  women  carried  it  home  joyfully,  and  laid  it  on  their  unpolluted  hearths. 
When  several  towns  had  united  to  celebrate  the  festival,  the  new  fire  might 
thus  be  carried  for  several  miles.  The  new  fruits  were  then  dressed  on  the 
new  fires  and  eaten  with  bear's  oil,  which  was  deemed  indispensable.  At  one 
point  of  the  festival  the  men  rubbed  the  new  corn  between  their  hands,  then 
on  their  faces  and  breasts.  During  the  festival  which  followed,  the  warriors, 
dressed  in  their  wild  martial  array,  their  heads  covered  with  white  down,  and 
carrying  white  feathers  in  their  hands,  danced  around  the  sacred  arbour,  under 
which  burned  the  new  fire.  The  ceremonies  lasted  eight  days,  during  which 
the  strictest  continence  was  practiced.  Towards  the  conclusion  of  the  festival 


288  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

the  warriors  fought  a  mock  battle;  then  the  men  and  women,  together,  in 
three  circles,  danced  round  the  sacred  fire.  Lastly,  all  the  people  smeared  them- 
selves with  white  clay  and  bathed  in  running  water.  They  came  out  of  the 
water  believing  that  no  evil  could  now  befall  them  for  what  they  had  done 
amiss  in  the  past.  So  they  departed  in  joy  and  peace. 

Similar  festivals,  with  parallel  ceremonies,  all  practiced  for  the 
same  purpose  of  preventing  the  mixing  of  various  kinds  of  food,  are 
celebrated  among  the  most  widely  scattered  peoples.1 

Among  practically  all  primitive  agricultural  peoples  just 
enough  grain  is  cultivated  for  food  for  one  year.  Occasionally  a 
small  amount  of  the  old  crop  may  remain  when  the  new  crop  is 
ready  to  be  harvested,  but  this  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule 
among  peoples  that  live  altogether  upon  the  agricultural  plane  of 
civilization  and  do  not  carry  on  commerce  with  the  produce  of  their 
fields.  Famine,  due  to  a  crop  for  one  reason  or  another  insufficient 
for  the  needs  of  the  year,  is  not  uncommon  among  such  strictly 
agricultural  peoples.  These  must  have  been  the  normal  condi- 
tions in  ancient  Israel  and  among  the  still  earlier  Canaanites. 
Certainly  Lev.  25:20-22*  and  26:10  imply  that  it  was  an  unusual 
thing  for  the  annual  crop  to  prove  sufficient  for  more  than  one  year. 

It  is  therefore  very  probable  that  among  the  ancient  Canaanites 
and  the  early  agricultural  Israelites,  the  custom  existed  of  destroy- 
ing the  usually  meager  remains  of  the  old  crop  before  the  new  crop 
could  be  used  or  even  harvested.  And  if  this  hypothesis  be  correct, 
we  must  see  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  destruction  of  all  leaven,  of  the 
fasting  before  the  Masses-festival,  and  of  the  eating  of  the  Massoth 
themselves,  the  religious,  sacramental  rites  by  which  the  last  re- 
mains of  the  old  crop  were  destroyed  as  the  necessary  preparation 
for  the  cutting  and  eating  of  the  new  crop.  All  of  the  old  crop 
was  thus  burned  except  just  enough  to  prepare  the  Massoth  for 
the  festival.  These  were  actually  the  very  last  of  the  old  crop, 
and  with  their  final  consumption  the  old  crop  would  be  entirely 
destroyed  and  the  new  crop  could  be  harvested  and  eaten  with 
impunity,  after  the  offering  of  its  regular  taboo-sacrifice,  the  first 

1  Frazer,  op.  cit.,  83  ff. 

2  This  is  clearly  a  late  insertion  into  the  text  and  refers  rather  to  the  Sabbatical 
than  to  the  Jubilee  year;  cf.  Bertholet  and  Baentsch  on  the  passage. 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          289 

sheaf.  These  facts,  that  the  entire  .Masses-festival,  as  we  have 
shown,  must  have  preceded  the  beginning  of  the  harvest,  and  that 
the  Massoth  must  have  been  made  entirely  of  the  old  crop,  admit 
no  other  logical  and  consistent  explanation.1 

That  this  is  no  forced  nor  improbable  hypothesis  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  two  rites  of  strikingly  similar  nature  are  still  observed 
in  connection  with,  or  as  preparatory  to,  the  celebration  of  Easter 
in  the  present-day  Christian  church  of  Palestine.  Bliss  tells  that 
"on  this  same  Thursday  (Maundy  Thursday)  the  Maronite 
patriarch  at  his  seat,  with  two  or  three  bishops,  consecrates  the  oil 
of  baptism,  oil  for  extreme  unction,  and  the  holy  chrism  (the 
meirun),  all  three  kinds  of  oil  to  be  distributed  by  the  bishops 
among  the  Maronite  churches  for  use  during  the  coming  year.  Oil 
remaining  from  the  year  before  is  burned."2  And  it  is  a  well-known 
and  oft-described  practice  that  preparatory  to  the  descent  of  the 
sacred  fire  in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulcher  at  Jerusalem  on  the 
Saturday  afternoon  preceding  Easter  Sunday,  all  fires  are  extin- 
guished in  the  Christian  homes,  monasteries,  and  churches  of 
Palestine.  Runners  bearing  the  sacred  brands  or  tapers  kindled 
from  the  new  holy  fire  hasten  from  the  Church  of  the  Sepulcher, 
carrying  the  precious  burden  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  with 
these  the  new  fires  are  once  more  kindled.3  This  rite  too  reminds 
us  strongly  of  the  ritual  of  the  Creek  green-corn  festival. 

But  this  is  by  no  means  all.  For  agricultural  festivals,  even 
among  the  most  primitive  peoples,  are  seldom,  if  ever,  celebrated 

1  Further  proof  of  this  may  perhaps  be  seen  in  the  practice  recorded  in  the  Shulhan 
^Aruh  (^rakHayyim,  435),  based  upon  a  decision  of  Rab  (B.  Pesahim,  6b),  that  if  a 
man  neglected  to  search  for  and  burn  the  leaven  in  his  house  either  before  or  during 
the  Passover,  he  must  still  do  so  after  the  festival  had  passed,  for  the  enjoyment  of 
such  food  was  absolutely  forbidden.  The  celebration  of  the  Passover  had  made  all 
such  food  strictly  taboo.  This  too  may  be  a  survival  of  the  oldest  practice  that 
all  grain  remaining  from  the  old  crop  had  to  be  burned,  and  therefore  became  com- 
pletely invalidated,  at  the  beginning  of  the  M assoth-iestival  and  preparatory  to  eating 
the  new  crop. 

3  The  Religions  of  Modern  Syria  and  Palestine,  p.  162. 

3  Cf .  Wilson,  Peasant  Life  in  the  Holy  Land,  pp.  45  f . ;  Stanley,  Sinai  and  Palestine, 
pp.  460-64;  Maundrell  (ed.  Wright),  A  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,  pp.  462-64; 
Ridgaway,  The  Lord's  Land,  p.  262;  Field,  Among  the  Holy  Hills,  p.  50;  and  other 
writers. 


290  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

merely  as  important  and  memorable  occasions  in  the  life  of  the 
people.  They  have  always  a  religious  significance,  are  always 
celebrated  in  some  relation  to  the  supernatural  powers  that  preside 
over  the  blessings  of  agriculture.  As  stated  above,  these  primitive 
Canaanite  agricultural  festivals  were  celebrated  in  honor  of  the 
great  triad  or  trinity,  the  father-,  mother-,  and  son-gods,  Bacal, 
Astarte,  and  Tammuz.  These  gods  were  the  result  of  the  deifica- 
tion of  the  great  agricultural  forces  and  phenomena,  the  heaven  or 
the  sun,  with  its  fructifying  rain  or  sunlight,  the  earth,  conceived 
as  the  great  mother,  and  the  annual  crop,  the  offspring  of  the  union 
and  fertilization  of  mother-earth  by  father-heaven.  And  in  the 
annual  cycle  of  sowing,  sprouting,  growth,  ripening,  and  harvest- 
ing of  the  grain  we  have  the  key  to  the  right  understanding  of  the 
nature  of  Tammuz,  his  myths,  and  religious  rites.  His  festivals 
were  naturally  celebrated  at  different  times  of  the  year,  either  at 
the  time  of  his  death  and  burial  in  the  earth,  or  at  the  time  of  his 
resurrection  or  rebirth,  and  were  always  associated  with  rites  com- 
memorative of  the  role  played  by  the  parent  deities  in  the  great, 
annual,  divine  mystery.  In  fact,  there  seem  to  have  been  no 
Tammuz  festivals  pure  and  simple.  They  were  rather  all  festivals 
in  honor  of  the  inseparable  trinity  of  gods,  and  their  rites  were  not 
only  designed  to  commemorate  the  various  activities  of  each  of 
the  three  gods,  but  were  also  of  a  homeopathic  magical  nature, 
intended  to  compel  the  great  deities  to  function  in  the  proper 
manner,  and  so  bring  forth  the  annual  and  indispensable  crop. 

But  if  Tammuz  was  the  annual  crop,  and  this  is  absolutely 
certain,  then  each  successive  annual  crop  meant  the  rebirth  of 
Tammuz,  or  in  another  aspect  certainly  clearly  perceived  by  the 
people,  a  new,  and  each  year  an  ever-new,  Tammuz,  as  the  succes- 
sor of  the  old  Tammuz,  the  first-born  and  only-begotten  son 
of  mother-earth  herself,  therefore,  the  eternally  virgin  goddess, 
whose  virginity  is  renewed  annually  after  the  birth  of  her  son. 
And  since  Tammuz  was  the  crop,  and  therefore  identical  with  the 
grain  and  everything  made  therefrom,  the  burning  of  the  remains 
of  the  old  crop  and  the  eating  of  the  Massoth,  as  a  religious  rite, 
as  a  sacrament,  clearly  were  nothing  but  the  expression  and  prac- 


ORIGIN  OF  MASSOTH  AND  MASSOTH-FESTIVAL          291 

tical  realization  of  the  principle  that  the  old  Tammuz  must  be 
completely  put  out  of  the  way  before  the  new  Tammuz,  the  new 
crop,  can  be  actually  born  or  reborn.  And  the  eating  of  the 
Massoth  as  a  sacrament  would  be  nothing  more  than  the  eating  of 
the  old  Tammuz.  That  this  conception  of  the  eating  of  the  god  is 
neither  strange  nor  forced  may  be  inferred  from  the  story  of  the 
celebration  of  the  Passover  in  the  three  Synoptic  Gospels  (Matt. 
26:26  f. ;  Mark  14:22  f.;  Luke  22:19  f.),  where  Jesus  gives  to  his 
disciples  the  Massoth  with  the  words,  "This  is  my  body,"  and  in 
the  resultant  ceremony  of  the  eucharist  in  the  Catholic  church.1 
Similar  practices  of  the  sacramental  eating  of  the  god,  parallel  to 
this  of  the  eating  of  Tammuz  in  the  form  of  the  Massoth,  are 
found  among  the  most  widely  scattered,  primitive,  agricultural 
peoples.2 

It  is  noteworthy  in  this  connection  that  among  the  heathen 
Harranians  at  the  annual  festival  of  the  weeping  women,  celebrated 
in  the  month  of  Tammuz,  when  the  women  bewailed  the  death  of 
Ta-uz,  because,  as  they  believed,  Ta-uz  had  been  cruelly  killed  by 
his  master,  his  bones  ground  in  a  mill  and  then  scattered  to  the 
four  winds,  they  would  eat  nothing  that  had  been  ground  in  a 
mill.3  Likewise  among  the  people  of  Asia  Minor,  during  the 
annual  festival  of  mourning  for  the  dead  Attis,  a  deity  parallel  in 

1  It  is  significant  that  the  eucharist  is  partaken  of  only  after  fasting.  In  this 
connection  I  may  state  that  Dr.  Paul  Carus,  of  Chicago,  has  suggested  to  me  that  the 
term  "mass"  for  the  important  rite  of  the  Catholic  church  that  primarily  commemor- 
ates and  is  modeled  after  the  Last  Supper,  may,  in  view  of  the  significant  rdle  of  the 
massoth  in  the  traditional  accounts  of  the  Last  Supper,  be  derived  from  the  Hebrew 
massah.  According  to  Fortescue  (Catholic  Encyclopedia,  IX,  791)  this  ceremony 
was  originally  designated  as  evxa-piffTla-.  The  term  "mass"  (missa)  is  not  authen- 
ticated until  St.  Ambrose  (d.  397).  He,  however,  uses  it  in  such  manner  as  to  indicate 
that  it  was  then  an  established  and  commonly  accepted  term.  A  doubtful  reference 
occurs  in  a  letter  of  Pope  Pius  I  (ca.  i$2-ca.  157).  The  late  mediaeval  form  missio 
designates  the  mass  as  the  ceremony  of  dismissal  of  the  people.  But  this  explanation 
of  the  origin  of  the  term  is  generally  regarded  as  doubtful  and  unsatisfactory.  In 
view  of  all  this  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Carus  seems  to  me  quite  probable. 

3  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough*,  "Spirits  of  the  Corn  and  the  Wild,"  II,  48-108. 

3  Chwohlsohn,  Die  Ssabier,  quoting  Fihrist,  IX,  No.  5,  p.  4.  Ta-uz  is  of  course 
merely  a  dialectic  variation  of  Tammuz,  and  approximates  very  closely  the  original 
Babylonian  or  Sumerian  Du-u-zi. 


292  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  THEOLOGY 

every  way  to  Tammuz,  the  worshipers  abstained  from  bread.1 
Similarly  too,  as  Jaussen  records,  among  the  fellahin  of  Moab  still 
today,  before  the  beginning  of  the  harvest  every  owner  of  a  field 
makes  a  repast  for  Halil,  clearly  a  Tammuz-survival,  at  which  all 
the  reapers  are  present.  Then  he  says,  "The  sickle  is  opened."2 
Thereafter  the  harvest  begins.  This  is  undoubtedly  a  survival 
of  the  old  custom  of  sacramental  meals  preparatory  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  harvest. 

The  fasting  preparatory,  or  introductory,  to  the  Massoth-i estival 
would  accordingly  not  only  be  a  ceremony  of  mourning  for  the 
dead  Tammuz,  but  also  be  designed  to  prevent  the  commingling 
of  profane  and  holy  food  in  the  body  of  the  eater,  and  the  conse- 
quent contact  of  the  new  with  the  old  Tammuz.  Robertson- 
Smith  shows  conclusively3  that  fasting  is  very  often  the  ritual 
preparation  for  a  sacramental  meal,  and  evidences  his  claim  by  a 
mass  of  proof.  Just  this,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  purpose  of  the 
fasting  incidental  to,  and  preparatory  for,  the  Creek  green-corn 
festival. 

And  the  Massoth  themselves  would  be  the  survival  of  the 
simplest,  most  primitive,  and  speediest  form  of  preparing  grain 
for  food,  the  form  in  which  the  nomad,  particularly  when  on  a 
journey,  still  eats  his  bread.4  This  primitive  mode  of  preparing 
the  remains  of  the  old  crop  for  sacramental  eating  during  the  seven 
days  of  the  festival  would  be  peculiarly  suited  to  the  nature  and 
exigencies  of  the  occasion.  It  was  merely  another  instance  of  the 
continuation  of  ancient  and  outgrown  practices  in  religious  cere- 

'Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough3,  "Adonis,  Attis  and  Osiris2",  226,  quoting  Arnobius 
Adversus  nationes  v.  16;  Sallustius  Philosophus  De  diis  et  mundo  iv;  Fragmenla 
Philosophorum  Graecorum,  ed.  F.  G.  A.  Muhlbach,  III,  33. 

2  Les  coutumes  des  Arabes  au  pays  de  Moab,  p.  252.     Cf.  Deut.  16:9,  SS^fi- 
tDTSin  5nrYQ,  and  the  corresponding    designation  of   the   isth  of   Ab,  -frfrfflt 

l_       57\  *MT\  DY1,  (B.  Ta<anith,  310),  the  day  that  marked  the  close  of  the  harvest  season. 

3  Religion  of  the  Semites3,  p.  434. 

4  Cf.  Chwohlsohn,  op.  cit.,  II,  218  (note  238)  and  the  designation  there  of  Massoth 
as  "  bread  after  the  manner  of  shepherds."    Note  also  the  statement  of  Musil  (Arabia 
Petraea,  IV,  148),  that  camel  beduins  regard  bread  as  a  dainty  and  eat  it  only  about 
once  a  month.    Some  tribes  eat  leavened  bread  only  during  the  rainy  season  and 
unleavened  bread  (falir)  during  the  dry  season. 


ORIGIN  OF  MA$$OTH  AND  MAS$OTH-FESTIVAL         293 

monial,  long  after  more  modern  and  practical  customs  had  super- 
seded them  in  everyday  life.1 

Such,  we  believe,  was  the  origin  of  the  Massoth  and  of  the 
Massoth-iestiva.1. 

1  Cf.  Chwohlsohn,  op.  ciL,  II,  734  (note  126);  Toy,  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
Religions,  p.  113,  note  i .  Similar  to  this  would  be  the  persistent  use  of  flint  and  stone 
knives  at  circumcision  (Exod.  4: 25;  Josh.  5:2),  the  prohibition  of  using  stones  hewn 
with  iron  tools  in  building  an  altar  (Exod.  20: 25),  the  peculiar  garb  worn  during  the 
Passover  (Exod.  12:11),  and  the  ihram,  or  sacred  garment,  worn  during  the  sojourn 
within  the  haram  during  the  Meccan  pilgrimage.  These  last  are  undoubtedly  sur- 
vivals of  the  most  ancient  and  simple  Semitic  dress.  Cf.  Burton,  Pilgrimage  to 
al-Madinah  and  Meccah,  (Memorial  ed.)  II,  138  f.,  205,  284. 


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